Hey all. Always enjoyed reading everyone's suggestions on more unknown games available during big steam sales.
I'll start off with one that I have been a fan of for a long time: Death Road to Canada
This game is like a zombie action Oregon Trail like game, where you manage supplies and fight through hordes of zombies on your way to the safe haven of Canada. Only US$3.74 right now and well worth it imo!
For me it’s Songs of Conquest - spiritual successor of Heroes of Might and Magic 3. It looks great, the gameplay is awesome, they took all of the best parts of HoMM and got rid of the more frustrating ones (for example there is a unit cap for a single slot, so you can’t have 2000 skeletons in a single unit). There are also some cool new mechanics, like every unit gives some kind of essence, which is used as a resource for using spells, so depending on your team composition you get access to different spells. Overall definitely worth checking out for every HoMM fan!
I'm really enjoying The Tenants, no idea if it's a hidden gem or not. It's like House Flipper but also a bit Simsish. You renovate properties, negotiate leases and manage tenants. Good fun!
When I stop plugging Paradise Killer it will be because I am dead and in the ground. Absolute masterpiece of theming and plot. It's a mystery game without the clunky logic puzzles-- just your patience and intuition. And my God, the music. I've been obsessed for over a year now.
I have to recommend my favorite game of the last few years - CrossCode
It has everything. Snappy combat, build diversity, varying enemies, incredible story and characters, beautiful pixel art, and unique puzzles.
The combat is fantastic. It's very responsive and has so much diversity in each element you obtain. The gear has so much variety to augment your builds.
I love a great story in games. I adore the story in this game. Lea is a compelling main character while being one of few words (literally). Her friends she makes along the way are charming and frustrating but in a redeeming way. The universe has so much lore to discover in every facet, and the real-life MMO setting is captivating to explore. If you aren't a fan of puzzles, you can reduce the timing of elements of those puzzles to make them easier to solve/execute. A good handful are time-based execution ones, so this feature is very helpful if you're ever having a hard time pulling off one or two puzzles.
Timespinner: A really solid Metroidvania - very similar to older Castlevania games. It's on sale for just under $6 USD. Great deal. I got a solid 28 hours out of the game and loved it (tho, if you race to the end it isn't super long but still good for the price). Don't sleep on it for that price if you like the genre, and are itching for that old school Castlevania feel. An actual hidden gem IMO.
Broforce: Not a hidden gem, but a hilariously fun side scrolling shooter like Contra that you could play with a few friends (and levels going up and down, not just running to the right, plus destructible environments that you can use to kill your friends for laughs). $3 USD, hard to pass up even if you only play it for one drunken night with your friends. We all had a lot of fun with this. Maybe too much fun.
Toukiden 2: This game has been sitting at full price for years. I could never understand why. It's a Monster Hunter style game with a full open world for single player, but multiplayer gameplay for boss battles similar to MH. I had fun with it for a bit but I have been waiting for it to go on sale so I can play it with some friends. Significant sale at $23.99 USD compared to the usual $60 USD and it doesn't happen often. It's worth looking at. I enjoyed the few hours I played a lot, but I couldn't tell you how good it is overall. Reviews seem good.
Grim Dawn: Others have already mentioned this one. It's the successor to Titans Quest, and perhaps the spiritual successor to Diablo 2. Supports mods, which is great! Stash enhancements, character editors, etc. It's an ARPG game similar to Path of Exile and Diablo. Story is decent, there's some cool mechanics and choices matter type stuff, but even with those you can still play with your friends. You can get the game with expansions (totally worth getting) for around $21-$25 USD. Great deal and you'll be supporting a great company, Crate Entertainment takes care of their fans and keep supporting the game.
Definitely In Other Waters, an earlier work from the same people who recently brought you Citizen Sleeper. It's a narrative heavy game were you play an AI helping a xenobiologist. You perceive the alien maritime world through a quite minimalistic interface, and nevertheless that game had me on the edge of my seat from the start. Highly recommended, and IMO far too little known.
Currently 70% off and less than 5€. Also available as part of a bundle with Citizen Sleeper.
A Hat in Time: 50% off at £12. A really cute 3D platformer.
Wobbledogs: 40% off at £10. Looks and plays like a pet simulator but is almost more about genetics and seeing what kind of bizarre "dogs" you can create.
Let's Build a Zoo: 45% £9. I've seen this described as similar to a Bullfrog game (think Theme Hospital) and that's good way to put it. It's a zoo simulator, but full of silly humour and things you can do, like butcher your animals for meat. A big feature of the game is breeding, including crossbreeding animals to create hybrids like a snake/pig monster.
Sherlock Holmes vs Jack the Ripper: 80% at £2. It's an old game and the dating shows, and nor is it a brilliant masterpiece of writing (it's Sherlock investigating Jack the Ripper after all) but it does scratch the detective game itch. It's fun to explore London as it was in Sherlock's day, and it does provide its own theory as to who Jack the Ripper was, as well as laying out the events in a way that are much easier to follow than reading a book. I'd recommend it for true crime and mystery fans and I look forward to the other games in the series.
Death’s Door 19.5€ → 7.8€ It’s a very cozy game but still fun mechanics and adventurous. Kinda similar to Hyperpixel in feels. Spent 3 days while sick playing from the sofa, enjoyed every bit.
If you like old time puzzle games, and have a pinch for programming, then you will love this. In this game you control bots by creating algorithms to extract data and other challenges. The cool part is you must study the game language and learn the lore from manuals and magazines that the game provides.
Summer 1996, Today is the day! You hit the road. Adventure. Freedom. Escape. Run. Flee the Regime. Try to survive.
On this risky road trip to the border, you’ll meet incredible characters, and discover their intertwined stories and secrets in an ever-evolving adventure. But every mile opens up a choice to make. Your decisions will change your adventure, change the people you meet, maybe even change the world.
It's worth noting that EXAPUNKS is substantially easier than Shenzhen I/O. I actually preferred it though because experimenting with different strategies to increase speed was more fun to me than, say, beating my head against kelp harvesting robot.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/632360/Risk_of_Rain_2/ - 50% 12.49€ 96% positive
Action rogue lite hero 3rd person shooter thingy - My absolute favourite game in recent memory.
Not sure if this counts as hidden but many fans of the genre don't know it ¯_(ツ)_/¯
Insanely good soundtrack, cool artstyle, creative characters with very diverse abilities and gameplay, plenty of enemies and bosses, hidden features, locations, items, bosses, c̴͕͎͚̗̥̀̃̓h̴̘̯̎͗ȧ̶͕̤̪̦̺̂̕r̷͚͑̔͒̃͝a̵̖̩̣̍̂̈́̎̿c̷̱͓̪͖̈́ṫ̵̯̈͂̚e̷̺͓̙̥͆̓ŗ̷̢̻̺̞͠s̸̩̍̍̀?̴̼̘̱̗̯̈̋̄
You know how some rogue lites make sure items stop stacking so they don't break the run?
Yeah that's not one of these. Go nuts, break the game, fly through the map, just to get too cocky and lose it all in the blink of an eye.
The original Risk of Rain is also a banger, currently 80% off at 1.99€. Same concept but 2D sidescroller with pixel graphics. Incredibly sweet game.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/550320/art_of_rally/ - 45% 13.74€ 92% positive
Challenging game with arcadey look and sim-ish feel.
Beautiful visuals and a chill soundtrack. Great for white knuckled time attack or hours of zen drifting in freeroam.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/422970/Devil_Daggers/ - 50% 3.99€ 96% positive
Highscore based retro arena shooter bullet hell kinda deal. PSX era 3D look, one weapon with two modes, surprisingly interesting movement (think b-hops, rocket jumps).
Every run is mostly identical. Enemies always spawn at specific times, but in random locations of the claustrophobic empty map. The longer you survive, the higher the score.
Also fantastic sound design!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1743850/HYPER_DEMON/ - 33% 8.36€ 95% positive
Sequel to Devil Daggers. Turns everything to 11. Complete fever dream. Adds an absolutely psychotic rear view mechanic, where close enemies outside your FOV appear mirrored in red colour on your screen.
Adds several movement and combat mechanics, while still keeping the weapon very simple.
Different score system while keeping the timed spawns. Killing in rapid succession increases your score, just scraping by drops it over time.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/553310/Lethal_League_Blaze/ - 35% 12.99€ 97% positive
Projectile Fighting Game with saturday morning cartoon style 3D visuals. There's a ball in the middle, whoever touched it last "owns" it. If you get hit by the ball, you take damage. If you hit it back, you own it and it speeds up. And you build special meter for absurd special moves.
Turns into a mind melting firework of on screen effects the faster the ball gets.
Has a decent campaign to learn the game and fight bots. Bangin soundtrack
Up to 4 players, local and online play.
The original, Lethal League is also on sale for like 5.99€. Fully 2D visuals, also very charming. iirc slightly lower health and no campaign.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/94400/Nidhogg/ - 60% 3.99€ 90% positive
If you don't know Nidhogg go play Nidhogg. Bring a friend.
Low-Fi 2D fighting game.
You can run, you can jump, you can duck, you can stab. 4 Maps to utterly cover in pixel blodd.
That's about it.
It opens up more the better you get, but just go play it, folks.
Win against your buddies by getting through 3 screens in a tug-o-war kind of system and prove your worth by sacrificing yourself to the Nidhogg.
Tournament mode available. Nidhogg 2 is also on sale for 5.99€ 81% positive at like 800 reviews.
They got budget for graphics that time which.. they used.
Different weapons add a rock paper scissors dynamic to the game, everything else is mostly the same! Good stuff.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1285670/Post_Void/ - 20% 2.39€ 97% positive
A wild ride of a psychedelci action rogue like? No meta progression from what I could tell, which is why I'd be hesitant to call it a rogue lite.
Basically run based randomly generated doom while your ego melts away after a heroic dose of psychoactives.
Health literally runs out (of the head you carry) over time. Kill to heal, don't get hit.
DO NOT TOUCH IF YOU HAVE EXPERIENCED PHOTOSENSITIVE EPILEPSY BEFORE.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/517710/Redout_Enhanced_Edition/ - 75% 4.99€ 87% positive
The quintessential zero-G racer for PC.
Very similar to the classics like Wipeout, but innovating on the formula. You'll need a controller!
Left stick steers as you'd expect, right stick points the nose of your racer to compensate for tight turns and to prevent blackout / redout during high-G maneuvers.
A classic campaign mode lets you unlock several classes of racers, two handsfull of upgrades let you adjust how you play.
Sweet thumpin soundtrack Online play supports up to 12 players though I'd be a bit surprised if you find that many on the servers :D
Split Screen mode available!
The Sequel Redout 2 is also on sale at 14.99€ but it has even fewer reviews, fans of the games seem to favour it for longer tracks, deeper customization and improved gameplay. I haven't tried it yet though.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/268130/Heat_Signature/ - 50% 6.49€ 94% positive
If Hotline Miami was set in space. And a rogue lite.
Pull off crazy heists aboard enemy ships to liberate the galaxy from authoritarian empires, each faction generally having some specializations when it comes to gadgets and tech which you get to unlock for your runs.
Can be frustrating at times but on the flipside a close save get so much more intense. Also you usually get several chances to save your skin - if you're captured you get thrown out an airlock and take control of your escape pod to fish your body out of hard vacuum.
Generally there are so many cool mechanics, I'm having a hard time to pick highlights.
I wanted to chime in and say that no one should sleep on Risk of Rain 2, it’s a fantastic game and easily worth the $12.49. Nice list you put together!
I was initially put off by the art style of Risk of Rain 2, but once I started playing I found that it gelled really well with the game. I'm really happy my friend convinced me to play it.
Andto parrot everyone else, the soundtrack is killer.
Fair dues. But I want to point out that it's more than the sum of it's parts. There are tons of mechanics, and they're all engaging in and of themselves. But the balance and the complementary gameplay loops make the game punch above it's weight.
I'll just go through my library and pick out the ones that I don't think are very well-known or might have been missed by anyone who got into gaming more recently.
Demon Truck is a devilishly arcadey game, and at 90% off it is fifty cents so you are legally required to buy it right now. Once you play it for a few minutes, you'll want the BANGER soundtrack too, which was done by Zircon, costs $3, and is worth every penny. Here's a sample on YouTube if Bandcamp doesn't work for you. Game is a 40 megabyte download. What are you waiting for?
Approaching Infinity - What if No Man's Sky was a turn-based roguelike with retro tile-based sprite graphics? If that appeals to you, give it a look. The developer also has a more fantasy-oriented game called The Curse of Yendor.
Devil Daggers is worth trying if you enjoy fiendishly hard FPS games with pixel graphics.
Bots Are Stupid - it's a tight platformer where you control the character by writing a script to control its actions down to the individual frame if necessary. It has a level creator as well. If you've ever seen tool-assisted speedruns (TAS), this game is basically creating a TAS for something like Super Meat Boy.
If you have PCVR, give Ancient Dungeon a look. It's early access, but it already has that particular spark that tends to (and did) hook me, and it does a number of things phenomenally well, such as knife-throwing. In lists of top VR games, however, I rarely see it get a mention.
Distance is a racing game with where your car can jump, do flips, fly, stick to walls or the ceiling, and potentially get cut in half by the road hazards. It's by the same developers and is the successor to the equally fun and completely free Nitronic Rush.
It's not on sale, but at $5, Noitu Love 2: Devolution doesn't need a sale to be well-worth the price.
Lastly, Timespinner is a pixel-art metroidvania with time travel. I thought it was pretty fun.
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